Longitudinal associations between mindfulness and change in attachment orientations in couples: The role of relationship preoccupation and empathy

Abstract

Attachment orientations predict relationship outcomes and health and well-being, making it important to illuminate factors which enhance attachment security. We investigated how general and relationship-specific mindfulness predict changes in attachment orientations in couples over time, testing relationship preoccupation and partner-focused empathy as mediators. We also explored whether the longitudinal links between general mindfulness and attachment are bidirectional. Couples reported their general and relationship mindfulness and attachment orientations in a baseline session (Phase 1). They then reported relationship preoccupation and empathy each day for 14 days (Phase 2). Lastly, they reported general mindfulness and attachment orientations 2 months later (Phase 3). Results revealed that higher Phase 1 actor general—but not relationship—mindfulness directly predicted Phase 1-3 decreases in actor attachment anxiety. Conversely, greater Phase 1 actor relationship—but not general—mindfulness indirectly predicted Phase 1-3 decreases in actor attachment avoidance via greater Phase 2 actor empathy. Finally, lower Phase 1 actor and partner attachment anxiety directly predicted Phase 1-3 increases in general mindfulness. This research provides the first dyadic longitudinal demonstration of the interplay between partners’ mindfulness and attachment.

Perceptions of oneself and one’s spouse following a stressor discussion predicting attachment insecurity over one year

“…The recently proposed Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM; Arriaga et al, 2018) specifies distinct pathways through which attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance can decline over time to foster attachment security. The current research tests propositions of the ASEM and adds to a growing list of work supporting and extending its theoretically-grounded framework of attachment change (e.g., Arriaga et al, 2021;Bayraktaroglu et al, 2022;Gazder & Stanton, 2022;Jakubiak et al, 2022;Rholes et al, 2021).…”

The Moderating Role of Interpersonal Mindfulness in the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Marital Satisfaction

“…The Cronbach's alpha obtained for this questionnaire is 0.84. The items of this questionnaire measure subscales including presence, non-judgmental acceptance, non-reactivity, selfawareness, and others (Gazder & Stanton, 2023).…”

“…People with higher mindfulness tend to express more feelings of joy, satisfaction, and health in their lives (Mandal & Lip, 2022;McGill et al, 2016), and these feelings generally extend to their marital life as well. Research shows that mindfulness is correlated with greater skill in couple interactions, acceptance of the spouse, more empathy, and higher marital satisfaction (Abooie Mehrizi et al, 2020;Ezadi & Nemat Tavosi, 2016;Fatehi et al, 2021;Gazder & Stanton, 2023;Harvey et al, 2019;Hosseinnezhad Hallaji et al, 2021;Karremans et al, 2017;Khaddouma et al, 2017;Leavitt et al, 2021;Rajabi et al, 2022). Given the issues raised, the main question of the current research is whether interpersonal mindfulness plays a mediating role in the relationship between the use of social networks and marital satisfaction?…”

Machine Love

“…In this final experiment, Maslow's gridworld is modified to integrate the anxious-avoidant simulation described previously, to show how interacting with a simulated relationship tool informed by Fromm's principle of knowledge can help the agent reach greater flourishing. While there are many possible ways for individuals in anxious-avoidant relationships to potentially improve relational satisfaction [94,96,98,99], for the sake of simplicity we focus on the pragmatic strategy for insecure individuals to deliberately seek more secure partners; for example, such a strategy makes sense when e.g. an anxious partner is with an avoidant partner who at root is unwilling to work towards closeness [91].…”